Senior English major
College students these days are perhaps some of the busiest people on the planet. Many are forced to deal with working a job along with taking classes and attempting to maintain some sort of social life. I know I have found it challenging (at best) to balance an internship, school responsibilities and relationships.
The most time-consuming of my commitments is school. Despite taking only four classes this semester, I still find myself devoting a majority of my time at home to homework and reading for my classes. The Internet may have revolutionized how knowledge is shared, but it also revolutionized how homework can be distributed and collected. A large portion of my homework is completed online and forces me to plan my evenings around workloads and due dates. Readings for classes also take large amounts of my time. As an English major, I am assigned multiple readings for each class that can range from a few pages to an entire novel at a time. If I plan poorly during a week with a paper, presentation or exam, I could find myself seriously behind.
While I am fortunate enough that I have not needed to keep a job during my time in school, I have had the opportunity to work as the Terps and ACC sports writer for SportsWatch.com. As a blogger, I am charged with writing several articles a week and keeping up to date with sporting events. These articles can take an hour or more to write and as much time to research. If I am assigned a game recap, I have to plan free writing time around the start of the game and the fluctuating time of completion. Because the website covers all sanctioned NCAA sports, I have to keep up with many different sports and the news events pertaining to them.
Of all my life’s facets, my social life has suffered the most because of my responsibilities. Having hours of schoolwork and additional writing each day limits the free time I have to interact with my friends. While I know they have similar obligations and similar time restraints, I still feel as though I have missed many opportunities to spend time with those around me. With differing class and work schedules, my friends and I can rarely have large groups together. Often I am forced to choose between completing assignments and enjoying time with my friends.
I know all of these specific obligations and responsibilities are temporary, and I know I am blessed to have opportunities such as these, but I can’t help but feel stressed and overloaded sometimes. In the long run, putting my time toward schoolwork and writing will do more good for my life than anything else — it’s just the getting there that is difficult. But I’m looking on the bright side. At least after college, responsibilities go away — right?
Dave Stroh is a senior English major. He can be reached at dstrohdbk@gmail.com.
